By the time President Obama finished giving his State of the Union message, he had failed leadership 101 and convinced the nation that he is incapable of successfully leading it, especially in a time of crisis.

He was afforded a wonderful opportunity to rally his defeated fellow countrymen and lead them up the hill to storm the enemy’s fortifications. But he couldn’t even inspire his troops enough to get them to climb out of their foxholes, let alone charge and overrun the enemy positions. Clearly crisis leadership is not in his repertoire.

Anyone can lead when things are going right and there is not a dark cloud on the horizon. But it takes a leader like Washington, Lincoln or Churchill to take command in the middle of a national crisis, squarely face the enemy, rally the troops, crush the enemy and lead the nation to victory.

Can you imagine Obama drilling Washington’s army in the dead of winter at Valley Forge, or leading a charge up Little Round Top at Gettysburg, or breaking through the Nazi lines as Patton did at Bastogne? Today, if you were fighting the Russians would you be comfortable with Obama having your back?

If you want to know how a real leader thinks and talks, re-read Lincoln’s Second Inaugural address. As I sat and watched Obama give his State of the Union message on TV, I desperately listened for the words of encouragement that President Lincoln might have given.

He may have said something like, “Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that this mighty economic scourge may speedily pass away … Yet if God wills that it continue … the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

I was listening in hopes of hearing Obama give a closing that summed up the ravages our soldiers and their families are suffering because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Something like, “Let us strive on to finish these wars we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounded, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

The words of Lincoln’s are the words of a true leader and of a great President which were so lacking in Obama’s State of the Union. Let us all fervently pray that he will either quickly grow into the job, or decide not to run again for the office of president. Our nation deserves better than he is giving us.

Notice that in his Second Inaugural Address Lincoln didn’t even mention political parties or his political opponents. This was because he realized that the real struggle the nation was involved in was not between those who would destroy the nation and those who would save it. But it was between the idea of enslaving fellow men or granting them the freedom of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that all Americans had the right to enjoy.

So, today, the struggle is not between Democrats and Republicans. It is between those who would pile debt upon debt until the nation is crushed beneath its obscene weight, and those who would see the government live within its means until it can devise a way to pay off its debts, restrict the size and expenditures of government, and balance the budget and keep it balanced.

Unfortunately President Obama seems unable to, or is incapable of understanding that now is the time for him to demonstrate real presidential economic leadership, that it is time for him to quit wandering around in the “inside the beltway” political jungle.